Expanding identity beyond the human
Anthropology of Consciousness August 21, 2023 L. Mehl‐madrona 1 citation
Indigenous North American theories of mind, self, and consciousness offer historical examples of human relationships with non-humans that were not always peaceful or mutually beneficial, such as the near-extinction of beavers through Indigenous participation in the fur trade. Drawing on conversations with Elders and recent psychedelic literature, the author argues that today's context of human domination over animals, where humans are more dangerous to animals than vice versa, enables the construction of a new consciousness of non-humans. This new consciousness has historical antecedents in Indigenous thought but is also entirely new.